There is an epidemic of Type 2 diabetes in our country today. According to the American Diabetes Association, "There are 20.8 million children and adults in the United States, or 7 percent of the population, who have diabetes. While an estimated 14.6 million have been diagnosed, unfortunately, 6.2 million people (or nearly one-third) are unaware that they have the disease." Diabetes is typically identified through blood testing.

Type 2 diabetes, also called adult-onset diabetes, occurs when the body either doesn't manufacture enough insulin or the body ignores the insulin, which results in sugar (blood glucose) building up in the bloodstream. When untreated, diabetic complications arise, some of which are life threatening. According to the American Diabetes Association, these complications include heart disease and stroke, kidney disease, blindness, nerve damage, foot problems due to poor circulation or nerve damage, gastroparesis, depression, and skin problems like bacterial infections, fungal infections, and itching.

Although many people with diabetes turn to medications and insulin injections to treat the disease, an increasing number are finding that drug therapy simply suppresses the symptoms of diabetes without addressing its causes. By using a combination of Eastern and alternative medicine principles, a growing number of diabetics are utilizing comprehensive wellness and nutrition programs that treat the causes of diabetes, reverse its complications, and, in essence, provide a cure to the disease.

Such a program heals the body at a cellular level and allows the body to relearn the proper way to metabolize food and insulin. The key elements of such a program include:

* Pinpointing the foods, minerals, nutrients, herbs, and supplements that are antioxidants, that reduce inflammation, that increase the body's use of naturally produced insulin.

* Learning which foods, minerals, nutrients, herbs, and supplements address and reverse long-term diabetic complications.

* Identifying the five super foods that lead to wellness and the five bad foods that promote diabetes and poor health.

* Pinpointing the seven common mistakes that diabetics make.

* Transforming favorite foods into healthier versions that include less sugar, salt, and fat.

The underlying principle of such a wellness program to treat and reverse diabetes is the recognition that diabetes is complicated, involving a number of biochemical, hormonal, and metabolic imbalances. As such, conventional treatment that includes oral medication and insulin is ineffective in the long-term. Instead, regular blood glucose testing combined with specific nutrition and exercise programs can actually reverse Type 2 diabetes and alleviate diabetic complications.